Brevard teachers accept district's raise offer

Brevard County teachers gather gathered outside the school board headquarters in Vieira to rally for higher raises. Video by Craig Bailey. Posted October 10, 2017

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Teachers picket in front of School Board headquarters in Viera Tuesday evening. Teachers are protesting the School Board's latest offer of a 1% raise in pay. (Photo: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo

After months of back-and-forth negotiations, the Brevard County school board approved raises for teachers.

Negotiators from the school district and teachers union came to an agreement in January, and at Tuesday night's school board meeting, the board approved the final teacher contract.

Teachers who are rated "highly effective" on their evaluations will get $875, about a 1.8 percent raise, and teachers who are rated "effective" will receive $600, about a 1.3 percent raise. Additionally, all 4,500 teachers will get a one-time $200 bonus.

In total, the salary increases and bonuses will cost the district about $5.4 million.

Before the school board gave the final OK, teachers also had to approve the contract. Of the 3,187 teachers who voted — about 65 percent of those eligible to vote — 2,233 voted to accept the offer and 954 voted to reject the offer.

Under the state budget, teachers will also receive a bonus from the Florida Legislature of $1,200 for highly effective teachers and $800 for effective teachers.

The teachers union and school district began negotiations in September last year, ping-ponging demands and offers across the table. Union leaders turned down what they called "insulting" offers ranging from 1 percent to 1.5 percent and asked district staff to match the superintendent's recent 5 percent raise. The district's chief financial officer Pennie Zuercher said they could not afford to offer teachers much more without widespread layoffs.

Putting more money toward teacher raises also would have left less money for the district's new projects, school board members said. The district is funding more than $14 million for 16 new projects this year, including a busing system for choice schools; the reopening of South Lake Elementary; hiring more literacy coaches, security officers and social workers; and launching a suicide-prevention program.

Negotiation talks hit a standstill in October when the union declared impasse, potentially elevating discussions to a special magistrate. Some teachers protested the district's offers by picketing outside school board meetings and working the minimum hours and duties outlined in their contract.

The district drew outrage when a FLORIDA TODAY report revealed Superintendent Desmond Blackburn received two raises in one school year. He received the first — a 5 percent raise, his first since taking the job in 2015 — over the summer during his annual performance review. A technicality in his new contract awarded him another, this time a 1.5 percent raise, in December, in the midst of teacher protests. Blackburn ultimately donated the second raise following FLORIDA TODAY's reports.

Negotiation meetings resumed in December, and a last-minute addition of a $200 bonus sold union leaders.

Although he's happy the two parties came to an agreement in the end, union President Dan Bennett said, "Next year when we go to the table, we expect to not have to go through all that again."

Caroline Glenn is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact her at caglenn@floridatoday.com or 321-576-5933, and follow her on Twitter @bycarolineglenn and like "Education at Florida Today" on Facebook.